About: Christie literally just got going (her first post was in March). But she didn’t waste any time putting it all out there. Her goal is to lose more than 100 pounds and beat a lifelong struggle with depression and anxiety. Her openness caught our attention immediately, and we can’t wait to follow along with her as she takes each and every step.

"I started Weight Watchers in June 2015, and by December 2015 I had lost 30 pounds by following the plan and counting points. I was walking every day after work and taking short walks during my breaks at work. Then my dad passed away in February 2016, and my weight loss came to a stop. I had gained about five pounds back and was almost ready to quit. But in August 2016 I decided to get back on track. When I started tracking my meals again, the weight just started falling off. Weight Watchers is amazing because it's not a diet! They show you how to live a healthy lifestyle by encouraging you to eat high protein and low sugars, saturated fats and carbs. They also encourage you to make more time for yourself. Be healthy and happy from the inside out!”

With potatoes, leave the skin on (with baked or mashed potatoes) or if you peel them, make snacks of them. For example, drizzle olive oil, rosemary, salt, and garlic on the peels and bake at 400 F (205 C) for fifteen minutes for baked Parmesan garlic peels. Keeping the skin on potatoes when cooking them helps keep more vitamins/minerals in the flesh (just don't eat any parts of skin that are green).
About: Dustin spent much of his life being “slightly overweight,” never obese, but enough so that he wasn’t super comfortable in his own skin. But one day he decided to start exercising — lifting weights, crossfit and similar workouts, and slowly but surely, his body began to see the results he’d hoped. His interest in food also grew. He always liked meats, but decided to expand into baking too. These days, he’s packing his blog with clever twists on recipes — always making sure they’re nutritious and delicious — as well as fitness routines and updates on his progress. He’s just the guy if you want to take it nice and easy to lose weight.

Jen Mellor is a full-time mom and blogger for the inspiring weight loss blog, Just Average Jen. Jen has lost over 140 pounds through healthy eating and shares with us her tips for weight loss, healthy, vegetarian-friendly recipes, and the trials and tribulations of her life and journey to keeping the weight off, all while staying happy and healthy. Her weight loss journey is not only inspiring but has shown us that she is, in fact, anything but average!

I would think a lot about exercise. Especially when I was watching TV. I remember “the Bean.” The Bean was going to get me to exercise without fear of hurting my back and give me a six pack. I made a promise to myself as I was dialing the number on my TV screen, “You are definitely going to exercise this time.” Yet the 1st time I blew up that bean (you have to fill it with air), boom -- I hurt my back. I quit.
Sugary treats, while obviously delicious, aren’t very good for our bodies—and that includes our tummies. Not only do the added calories add inches to our waistlines, but sugar overload leads to insulin resistance, which tells the body to store extra fat around the waist. But that’s long-term stuff. Sugar also bloats your tummy in the short-term by feeding the bad bacteria in your gut, leading to extra gas. When it comes to flattening your belly, nixing sugar is one of the best things you can do including these 42 other easy tips to lose weight fast!
The main advantage of the low-carb diet is that it causes you to want to eat less. Even without counting calories most overweight people eat far fewer calories on low carb. Sugar and starch may increase your hunger, while avoiding them may decrease your appetite to an adequate level. If your body wants to have an appropriate number of calories you don’t need to bother counting them. Thus: Calories count, but you don’t need to count them.
I didn’t use a plan. I started with baby steps. I walked around the block everyday after dinner, and from there I started on portion control and then eating healthier. Right now, I try to work out 5 days a week with light walking on the weekends. It’s a lifestyle change. I have been able to pretty much stay the same weight after I lost weight. Eating is the key factor. What you see me post is what I eat. I try to have a variety of meals that are healthy and never boring. Check out my tip page, those are the rules I follow. Hey you lost 43lbs, meaning you can do it again. Really go slow, and start out with small steps. One month of walking around the block, then start measuring what you eat, then eat healthier. I don’t believe in giving up the foods I love I just eat smaller portions of it or have it as a treat once a week. For me bread is my favorite thing, so I have a hearty fat sandwich for dinner one night during the week, thats my treat! I wish you the best of luck, you know you can do it!!! I believe in you!!

(To clarify: At the time, I wrongly thought that the key to my happiness and “ideal life” was through a certain body type. Mentally, I regarded weight loss as a way to be happier and more attractive and all those things. It isn’t. Having gone through a transition of self-discovery and love over the past few years, I realize this is not at all the case, which I will elaborate on in the thoughts below.)

Similar to the CICO diet, the Body Reset has gained popularity via social media, and there isn’t any definitive research that suggests the approach is safe and effective. Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak created the plan, which is essentially a three-phase liquid diet comprised of smoothies and moderate exercise. While U.S. News notes you may lose weight on the diet, it may be tough to stick with, and isn’t safe for people with diabetes and heart disease. (38)
Other diabetes medications. Insulin-releasing tablets (e.g. sulphonylureas) often lead to weight gain. These include: Minodiab, Euglucon, Daonil, and Glibenclamide. Tablets like Avandia, Actos, Starlix and NovoNorm also encourage weight gain. But not Metformin. The newer drugs Victoza and Byetta (injectable) often lead to weight loss, but possible long-term side effects are still unknown. More on diabetes

Suzi is the blogger you’d definitely like to follow! Remember her motto, because it will do you a lot of good. Healthy is never about being perfect. She is a self employed fitness instructor, absolutely loves her family, zumba, tea, cupcakes, books, cats and yoga. What she truly believes in is that there is absolutely no one meal plan that will work for everybody. Also, there is not just one type of exercise which can fit for all, so this is why she is open for variations. What is her basic belief is that all people are different and they respond in a very different manner to exercise, as well as different types of foods. So, this is why she allows herself a cupcake or two between all of her healthy meals and fun recipes. The main goal of her blog is to encourage people to listen to their bodies and go with their gut when it comes to foods and workout.

Low-fat diets involve the reduction of the percentage of fat in one's diet. Calorie consumption is reduced because less fat is consumed. Diets of this type include NCEP Step I and II. A meta-analysis of 16 trials of 2–12 months' duration found that low-fat diets (without intentional restriction of caloric intake) resulted in average weight loss of 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) over habitual eating.[1]
Jenn Mitchell is a mother and creator of Comeback Momma, a healthy living blog inspiring readers to live happier and healthier lives. After losing over 50 post-baby pounds and rebounding from postpartum depression twice, Jen became a successful blogger and Personal Trainer. When her anxiety and depression returned years later, she struggled to keep the weight off and rebounded 20 pounds. Now, she’s found a healthy balance and is on the right path toward health and happiness and is a true comeback momma! With the help of her blog contributor, Chrissy, a mother, dietician, and triathlete, the Comeback Momma blog is inspiring women to constantly strive to find the best within themselves.
Lisa Cain is a mother and writer for the healthy living blog Snack Girl. After learning from her doctor that she needed to gain control of her weight, Lisa was devoted to finding a new strategy and approach to weight loss that would help her make a long-term lifestyle change. Her blog is dedicated to creating healthy versions of her favorite snack foods and providing helpful tips for enjoying the process.
The best approach for weight loss is reducing the number of calories you eat while increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity. To lose 1 pound, you need an expenditure of approximately 3,500 calories. You can achieve this either by cutting back on your food consumption, by increasing physical activity, or ideally, by doing both.
Jillian Michaels is a full-fledged fitness regimen, complete with exercise protocol and meal guides. If you’re motivated to lose weight and get in shape, this may be the program for you. The workouts are broken up into circuits of a few simple exercises, with multiple circuits per day. You’ll also benefit from the encouragement of Jillian Michaels herself—who repeatedly promises to kick your butt and whip you into shape on her website—through her video tutorials and training guides. It’s like having a personal trainer motivate you during your workout, but with a much lower price tag.

The plan promotes long-lasting, sustainable changes, and undoubtedly a bounty of research backs this up. In fact, one December 2013 study in the American Journal of Medicine shows that people following Weight Watchers were close to nine times more likely to lose 10 percent of their body weight, compared to people following a self-help diet plan. (20)

Make sure to program your cardio exercise in with your weight training the right way, though — a 2017 study found that performing cardio and weight training workouts on alternate days was far more effective for burning belly fat than stacking the workouts on top of each other in the same session. Put the two together, and watch that unhealthy midsection shrink.
Salt, in moderation, is a good thing—the mineral is necessary for a healthy heart and brain. But too much salt and you’ll retain water, bloating up like a water balloon. Cutting salt is one of the primary ways to drop extra water weight (one reason you may see a big weight loss when starting a new diet!). Move the salt shaker off your table so you’ll get out of the habit of routinely salting all your food. Then if you taste your food and still really want salt you can still stand up and get some. For more weight loss benefits, add these fat-burning foods to your plate to help you lose weight.

Don’t obsess over the scale. Yeah, it’s encouraging to track your number on a scale, but it can also be frustrating as hell — leading you to feel down on yourself. Remember that muscle is more dense than fat — meaning it’s heavier, but it takes up less space in your body. That stupid scale number is absolutely irrelevant if you are happy and confident with yourself and your progress.

Cons: Teaching your body to burn fat instead of carbs takes time, so you have to be patient while you feel sluggish during the weeks it takes to become fat-adapted. And not every body burns fat as efficiently as carbs, so your endurance may never measure up (though, as we said before, others actually see an improvement here.) Without carbs, your body’s ability to generate explosive energy will most likely decline, so if you love sprinting or HIIT, you might need to consume more carbs than other low-fat dieters. And while you’ll probably lose body fat, this kind of diet is actually keeping you focused on the wrong macro: Studies have proven that the higher protein aspect of a low-carb diet helps promote weight loss, rather than the lower carb count.

The meals shown here are "templates" that you can vary any number of ways to please your tastebuds and avoid eating the same old thing every day. Follow them and you'll get between 2,400 and 2,800 calories per day. That should provide plenty of calories for all but the most severely obese, while allowing most guys to lose fat around their middles at a steady pace. (Don't worry about hitting the numbers on the nose every time. If you exceed your fat quota during lunch, for instance, just cut back a little during dinner.)

Biz is a healthy recipe developer and creator of the blog, My Bizzy Kitchen. For years, she struggled to maintain a healthy weight after working a desk job for close to ten years. When the time came to get serious about her health, she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and has since been learning to navigate her weight loss while being an insulin dependent diabetic. She shares her weight loss journey and her healthy, diabetes-friendly recipes, as well as a healthy dose of humor, on her blog.